by Ian Wheeler
Records for June 1887 show that the purchase of a Steam Roarer (a loud steam whistle) at a price of 50s was requested through the Committee of Visitors, for the purposes of raising a general alarm. This was part of a request for a range of fire-fighting measures and came hot on the heels of a chimney fire in one of the wards. After the Second World War, the Steam Roarer was replaced by a whistle with a far less agreeable sound, which many Cholsey residents remember shattering the calm at frequent intervals – not always at socially acceptable hours – to announce the escape of a patient or as a prelude to the distant two-tone horns of the Wallingford Fire Brigade, which was summoned to false alarms with almost tiresome regularity.
One of Fair Mile’s many service tunnels. (Bill Nicholls)
The large new boiler house and its chimney under construction in 1900. Male 6 is on the left. Note the insulators for the newly installed telephone line. (Rod Wilkins)
STOKER BRIGNALL
Ernest John Brignall was born in 1872 and in 1895 moved from Bromley in Kent in pursuit of the position of Stoker at the Moulsford Asylum. He brought good references but was small of stature, which gave rise to comment at his interview. In reply, Ernest replied that he could get anywhere that the big men could, and many places that they couldn’t. He got the job and remained in it until his retirement in 1932.
At the asylum he met Alice Wells, a doctor’s maid, and married her in 1897 before setting up home in Cholsey. He was a provident and thoughtful man and, despite his humble occupation, succeeded in buying his own cottage with extensive gardens and orchards, where he could indulge in his hobby of bee-keeping, surrounded by his large family. Mr Moses Nicholls, steward of the asylum from 1881 to 1922, took a benevolent interest in the little stoker, lending him money to help buy the cottage and seeing to it that the repayments were within his means.
Stoker Ernest John Brignall in Volunteer Training Corps uniform in about 1915. (Vera Wheeler)
The boiler house provided ‘pressure treatment’ for sterilisation. This would have been a high-pressure steam process, commonly known as autoclaving, which had been invented in 1879, although the earliest discovered reference to this being done on site is from 1935.
In 1960, three new oil-fired boilers were installed and considerably automated. The 1956 George Schuster Hospital boasted a compact boiler house of its own that worked away discreetly on the southern side of the main site.
Coal and Coke
Solid fuels such as coal for the boilers and gasworks were essential commodities that were regularly mentioned in the minutes of the Committee of Visitors. As for all major purchases, competitive quotations were requested. Among a number of similar accounts, an entry of 16 April 1909 records the acceptance of tenders for Wallingford Gas Coke at 17s 6d per ton from Snow & Sons, Wallingford; also Powell Duffryn (Aberman) Large Steam Coal at 20s 5d per ton. In addition to this, the Great Western Coal Co., Reading, was to supply ‘up to three trucks of samples of Cannock & Rugeley Cobbles at 16/6 per ton; Eveson Coal & Coke Co., Birmingham, to supply up to three waggons of samples of Chapel End Spires Cobbles at 18/5 per ton’. The colourful naming of varieties of coal is intriguing and we should probably assume that ‘samples’ amounting to several wagonloads were actually paid for.
The 1960 boilers in 2010. (Bill Nicholls)
Water Pumping
Rainwater harvesting, now a fashionably ‘green’ technology, was designed into the hospital’s buildings from the start and the soft water pumped up to large cisterns for use in the laundry. Drinking water initially came from two wells within the main building but two Weir steam pumps later drew it from boreholes up to 100 feet deep, to guard against drought and to ensure that fires could be fought. Those who, in their youth, glimpsed the steam engines that drove the pumps and generators recall that they were visions in gleaming red paint and polished steel, sitting in a pit and immaculately maintained by the Engineer and his assistants. The boreholes were beneath the old cricket pitch, and this supply was in use long after mains water arrived in about 1935. The standard of the water came under scrutiny at times in connection with enteric diseases. Although one shallow well was condemned, analyses regularly found the water commendably pure; first-hand accounts say it was delicious and sweet-tasting. With evident displeasure, Mary Fairbairn, mentioned in Chapter 10, recalled being made to drink the new chlorinated water as part of her training in 1936.
Piped water was originally distributed from a dignified water tower in the front range and later from a tall, steel water tower alongside the boiler house. The steam pumps gave way to electricity as part of a wave of modernisation following the Second World War. Local folklore has it that the electric replacements failed to raise the water as efficiently as steam had done.
Gas Lighting
Given its large and lofty interior spaces, the asylum could not have operated effectively without the significant Victorian14 development of gas lighting. But mains gas was not available until 1952 and a dedicated gas works was part of the 1870 scheme, located by the north-eastern boundary on the farm site. All seems to have been well enough in its early days but one superintendent’s reports mention a number of incidents showing that gas-making was not entirely trouble-free. In April 1886, for example, Robert Bryce Gilland reported the total loss of the gas supply, plunging the asylum into darkness and no doubt making proper supervision of the patients very difficult. The problem was traced to the improperly fitted cover of a purifier, which had allowed all the gas to escape. Gilland’s report is notable for his enlightened concern over the risk of explosion and the safety of the Engineer and the Gasman, who was a skilled employee.
Coal gas (specifically ‘illuminating gas’) is produced by heating coal and capturing the flammable vapours that are given off. The gas then has to be purified to remove contaminants such as coal tar, ammonia and hydrogen sulphide. Gilland’s last report, in October 1886, contains the isolated and somewhat cryptic comment ‘The gas supplied is very bad at present’, suggesting either that insufficient was available or that it contained noxious impurities.
Having given up his position at short notice because of failing health, Dr Gilland’s baton and burdens were taken up by Dr John Barron, Acting Medical Superintendent, who reported in December that there had been trouble with the ‘gas bar’ (an obscure term but clearly a piece of purification equipment), which was overflowing into the boundary ditch and killing the hedge. Replacement was put in hand but, properly watchful of the asylum’s finances, Barron tried in vain to find a purchaser for the old one and was reduced to suggesting that it might have to be given away to anyone prepared to remove it, as it was ‘… becoming a nuisance in its present state’.
The young Dr Joel Harrington Douty had taken up his appointment as Superintendent in time to preside over major renovations to the gas works in April 1887, which included a second gas holder. An enlarged purifier shed was finished in July after delays caused by poor-quality materials. Good news was recorded in May, when the installation of more efficient burners permitted a 20 per cent reduction in the gas pressure and consequent cost savings. It was mentioned that the Recreation Hall, which had previously been gloomy, was now well lighted.
Into each life a little rain must fall for, the following August, Douty was obliged to dismiss Hill, the Gasman, for drunken insubordination. An advertisement for his replacement was duly placed, quite possibly in the Journal of Gas Lighting, at a wage of 18s per week plus accommodation, rising to £1 after a year.
Electric lighting made the gas works redundant in 1900 and local maps show that it had been removed by 1914.
Electricity
There being no mains supply, the asylum had its own steam-driven generators, which initially supplied power for machinery only, since lighting was still by gas.
Bringing the newfangled electric lighting to such a large establishment was both farsighted and fraught with technical challenges but, proposed in 1898 and switched on with due ceremony on 3 October 1900, this innov
ation figured in George Thomas Hine’s major improvements (see Chapter 4). There were three steam-powered dynamos but their output was not always adequate. ‘Extra windings in the field’ would hopefully remedy this. The exhaust steam from these, incidentally, heated the hot water supply.
There was also a battery of 110 lead-acid accumulators that supported the system at night, when generation was at a low level. By 1910 the system was under review and the accumulator system had been declared unsatisfactory. The committee solicited expert advice on installing ‘new electric engines’ from Mr Walter Binns of the Reading Tramways Co. Mr Binns’ counsel resulted in the authorisation to purchase, from Messrs Browett Lindley & Co., Manchester, a steam engine and 110 volt DC dynamo at a cost of £216 7s 6d, inclusive of a maker’s written guarantee for twelve months.
This move triggered a series of deliberations that would prove costly. In November 1911, two existing steam engines15 were found to be inadequate for the proposed task and a new one had to be considered. A subcommittee was duly set up to ponder the issue.
By March 1912 there had been further consideration of lighting plans, discovering that the boilers might now need upgrading before satisfactory performance could be expected from the engines and dynamo, and it was noted that over £2,800 had already been spent on aspects of the boiler equipment in the last year. June 1912 saw Binns recommending a new steam-driven generator of 30kW capacity and sale of the old plant. In the light of technical advances, he also advocated more efficient lamps that would significantly reduce the amount of power that the generator was required to deliver.
Mr Binns presented two reports on boiler efficiency and recommended improved, self-stoking furnaces to guarantee double the steaming efficiency. The carefully selected lamps should reduce the required electric lighting power by two-thirds; the reserve battery was to be replaced with a smaller one and the old would be sold for its lead (although in a later, vicious-circle development, a larger battery had to be considered to support an electric fan that assisted the new furnace).
That October, just as these issues were being overcome, it was found that the boilers were bulging under the increased steam pressure and needed strengthening. The final insult was the discovery of damage to the boilers caused by limescale and impurities in the water. Water softening plant was recommended at the bargain price of 1d–11/2d per 1,000 gallons after the cost of equipment. This was ordered from Paterson Engineering Co. Ltd, London, for £107 for installation. The boiler repairs went to Hodge & Sons of Millwall for £325.
Shortly after this, Mr Walter Binns went abroad to work and, for his pains, remuneration of 75 guineas was authorised by a grateful Committee of Visitors. It would surely be unjust to suppose that poor Binns was trying to escape the long-winded tribulations of the asylum boilers. At any rate, his improvements lasted until 1923, when we learn that various electrical installations were renewed. Further rewiring was undertaken around 1949, a process that dragged on into 1952, hindering widespread refurbishments that had been prompted by much tactful complaint from the Commissioners.
The modern world is certainly fortunate to have ubiquitous mains electricity; meanwhile the Berkshire Mental Hospital continued to generate its own power until 1954.
THROWING A LITTLE LIGHT ON THE SUBJECT
It is worth bearing in mind that efficient and reliable light bulbs took time to develop. Early types used filaments made of carbonised paper, slivers of bamboo or fine strands of pure carbon. It seems to be the latter that Mr Binns replaced with ‘metallic filament lamps of good make’ and these were early forms of the tungsten types that are now regarded as inefficient. Hospital records of August 1912 show that these were bought from the General Electric Co. under the familiar name of Osram16. They produced 16 candlepower and drew 1.25W per candlepower, making a total of 20W. Given that they were less efficient than present-day 20W bulbs17, their price of 2s 31/2d each was high for the modest gleam they must have cast. Even so, among other advantages, we should take it for granted that they outperformed gas lighting by a handsome margin.
Plumbing and Sewerage
In keeping with building codes of the 1850s, the asylum was built with flushing water closets, which were no doubt intended to benefit the health of its occupants. Effluent was pumped eastwards for settlement in sewage beds some way beyond the 1894 Isolation Hospital. After filtration, any liquid run-off was discharged near the river, the flat marshland along the bank being instrumental in preventing any untreated sewage entering the Thames.
In 1872, Superintendent Gilland had to report that the toilets were less than ideal. By 1884, lead pipes had furred up and drains discharging into open grilles were creating a stink, leading to much renewal of pipework, replacement of the WCs and the installation of stench pipes. Twenty-two years into the asylum’s life, in May 1892, Superintendent Douty reported continuing trouble with the drains, complaining of sewer gas ingress and lack of ventilation in some of the toilets. In October, he proposed doing away with the troublesome cesspools, even though mains sewerage did not reach Cholsey until the 1950s. In an effort to narrow down the cause of enteric illnesses, bans were placed on the use of sewage as fertilizer and, for trial periods, the growing of vegetables was itself banned. Regrettably, the toilet arrangements repeatedly came under scrutiny as possible causes of diarrhoea, enteric fever and typhoid.
The problem of outdated plumbing was among the longest-lasting found in the records and, in July 1954, Visitors Donnison and Morrell were moved to describe some of the sanitary blocks as ‘prehistoric’.
Centralised Heating
Although hot water from the boiler house was available for washing and heating from the asylum’s inception in 1870, the science of central heating was as yet immature. The archives suggest that heating equipment was initially distributed around the ward blocks and the chapel certainly had its own stove. There were ‘dry furnaces’ in the wards, supplying warm air through ducts but these may actually have been the ‘auxiliary heating’ mentioned in journals. The eminent firm of Messrs Haden of Trowbridge was the main heating contractor and there is strong evidence that it was a piped hot-water system – but perhaps not fed from a single boiler. Owing to continuing marginal performance, Hadens were enjoined to make numerous improvements and replacements at minimum cost.
An entry of October 1872 may illustrate at least part of the problem, it being a request from Superintendent Gilland to be allowed to have the hot-water tanks and pipes lagged, using ‘hair-felt and Leroy’s Non-Conducting Composition’ to remedy a shortage of hot water on bathing days. At times, the heating was incapable of warming the patients’ accommodations above 60° Fahrenheit (below 16°C) during bitter winter weather. Less to be expected was Superintendent Douty’s 1887 complaint that the post-mortem room was intolerably cold.
Although fireplaces had been built into the wards, they were more for appearance than function and, from 1887, the situation was exacerbated by coal rationing through the use of coal boxes. In August 1892, an agreement was reached with Haden’s on improvements to the heating system, which were still not entirely effective. A report the following January recommended laying a complete new main to the Female Hospital Ward at a cost of £49 plus £40 labour.
The complete centralisation of the heating was a conspicuous and welcome feature of Hine’s alterations of about 1900, when the larger boiler house entered service although, by May 1910, Haden’s were recommending relaying parts of the heating circuit and other changes. They also recommended a very futuristic-sounding ‘Turbo-Accelerater’ (sic) at £62; the work was to be completed by September.
Heating difficulties recurred sporadically, with the Ministry of Health becoming involved in inspections in 1924, and even in November 1933 the Commissioners were expressing the hope that radiators would not completely supplant fires, for reasons both aesthetic and practical: the hospital was still not over-warm.
The subject of hot water for washing and bathing is of course closely allied to central he
ating. Despite hot water being piped into the washrooms during the 1900 improvements, connection to the basins was apparently an optional extra. Worse still is the knowledge that ‘full hot & cold’ was not universally available until the hospital had existed for over sixty years. Commissioners’ reports throughout the 1930s lamented this deficiency, along with the antiquated and often unsanitary state of the washbasins. As mentioned above, the deficient and dilapidated state of the ‘sanitary annexes’ and washrooms appears to have been an insuperable problem.
Laundry
The laundry was a substantial installation on the Female side of the hospital and women were encouraged to assist with the work. In the absence of automatic machinery, the workload of washing clothing and bedding for upwards of 300 patients and staff must have been very heavy by 1875. The laundry acquired a ferocious-sounding ‘steam calender’, or powered mangle, in 1897 but, despite increasing amounts of equipment being electrically driven via a shaft beneath the floor, washing was still done in wooden tubs. Spilt water ran away through the flagstone floor into the underfloor space, which led to evil smells and unsanitary conditions, so by 1901 the floor was ripped out and replaced with one that was solid and waterproof. At the same time, earthenware tubs replaced the wooden ones. With up to 800 patients to serve, Hine’s improvements covered rearrangement of the laundry and the installation of steam-heated, fan-assisted drying closets, a washing machine, boiling coppers and a ‘hydro-extractor’ (spin dryer), all powered by a single 20 horsepower electric motor.
